Redoute's Fairest Flowers

by Pierre Joseph Redouté and Pierre-Joseph Redouté

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0906969700
• ISBN13: 9780906969700
• Release Date: December 1987
• Publisher: Herbert Press Ltd
• Weight: 3.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 12.3" x 0.0" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

A High Point in the History of Botanical Illustration

A lovely book, surprisingly well-produced by Prentice Hall in the late 1980's. Oversized hardback, 312 pp on heavy paper. 12 pp of biographical information on Redoute, Bibliography. Significantly, this is the first time that Redoute's substantial book Choix des plus belles fleurs et des plus beaux fruits has been re-released, complete, in one volume since the original Paris edition of 1827! Botanical illustrations have always been a two-headed beast. On the one hand, naturalists and biologists needed detailed and scientifically-accurate images. On the other hand, people of an aesthetic bent have always desired to have beautiful depictions of plants and flowers in their homes. Redoute, the great plant-painter of his age, accomplished both. His work is heralded for its keen observation and depiction of detail. And yet the tones, colors, compositions, and textures of his images are of incomparable beauty. He is one of those artists who makes it look so easy. There's a deceptive simplicity in his work which reminds one of the Japanese tradition of painting. Anyway, here's some dustjacket blurbage on the book... "Here is the lush, evocative color for which Redoute is known -- a magnificent collection of plants, including not only roses and lilies but also lilacs, honeysuckle, peonies, camellias, pansies, and dahlias, as well as a selection of equally opulent fruits." "A descriptive text by botanical scholars William T. Stearn and Martyn Rix accompanies each illustration, tracing the origin and history of the plant and discussing its horticulture today."